Muir made a good defence of his 2007 title by winning his final round game against the second seed, Sabino Brunello of Italy. Serious players prepare by studying the previous games of their opponents...

White: A. Muir; Black: S. Brunello. Opening: Nimzo-Indian Defence.

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e3 0-0 5 Bd3 d5 6 Nf3 c5 7 0-0 cxd4 8 exd4 dxc4 9 Bxc4 Nbd7 10 Bg5 h6 11 Bh4 Qa5 12 Rc1 Bxc3 With hindsight, this is an error: White's rook is helped on its journey towards the black king. A safer option was 12...b6. 13 Rxc3 b5 14 Bb3 b4 Black evidently hoped the rook would be forced into a passive retreat. 15 Re3! Bb7 Black has no way to exploit the e3-rook's temporary lack of room, eg 15...Ng4 16 Rxe6! fxe6 17 Bxe6+ Kh8 18 Bxg4 Qxa2 19 Be7 and White is better. 16 Ne5 Bd5 17 Ba4 Qc7? Losing by force. 17...Nxe5 was the only move, but 18 dxe5 is awkward for Black as the knight must desert its defensive post. 18 Bxd7 Either capture on d7 leads to the same thing. Muir reached this position earlier this year in the British League. He continued 18 Nxd7 Nxd7 and now should have played 19 Bxd7, but missed the chance. 18...Nxd7 19 Nxd7 Qxd7 20 Bf6! Muir finds the win at his second attempt. Brunello should have spotted this in his preparation: it is a standard idea and any computer program will find it within a minute. 20...Be4 The justification is 20...gxf6 21 Qh5! and Black can only avoid mate by giving up his queen: 21...f5 22 Qxh6 f6 23 Rg3+ Kf7 24 Rg7+. 21 Rxe4 gxf6 22 Rh4 Rfd8 23 Qd2 Kf8 24 Qxh6+ Ke7 25 Rf4 f5 26 Qg5+ Kd6 27 d5! Opening up lines towards the king forces a further concession. 27...Rg8 28 dxe6 Rxg5 29 exd7 Kxd7 30 Rxb4 Black resigns.